looted+artifacts+in+Iraq

=Ancient Mesopotamian History In Today's Society=

The artifacts looted in Iraq were mostly ancient Mesopotamian artifacts that have been saved and preserved over the years. We keep these artifacts to try to learn more about ancient life and culture. The way our society stays connected to ancient societies is through learning about them in museums and archeological sites. Without them, we wouldn't have evidence of our knowledge of historical cultures. We wouldn't know about Hammurabi code, the rosetta stone or the tomb of King Tut. If any of these things were looted before archaeologists got to them, then we would have significantly less knowledge about the beginning of civilization. Obviously the items in the National Museum of Iraq have already been preserved and researched, but since items have been looted from the museum, the public can't learn the same way and see the same things as the original archeologists. Studying the evolution of mankind from the beginning to end is an important factor to learning more about our modern culture, as well as ancient culture. is a poem called //Baghdad Museum, Clarington, Ontario// and it is written by Antony Di Nardo. The poem is very descriptive on the irreversible damage looting has caused for the world.

This is the National Museum of Iraq, which was looted in April 2003 when the United States invaded Iraq. It was a massive museum with tons of history inside, and many valuable items were looted. The museum holds over 5,000 years of ancient history. Museum security and military security arrived after the initial looting, and no further damage was reported. This was not the only site looted; over 200 sites throughout Iraq reported stolen artifacts in 2003.

"It was organized crime, with people who knew what they were looking for directing the looting," says archaeologist McGuire Gibson of the University of Chicago. "The real pity is that for every item that looters pull from the ground, another hundred are smashed."



The museum has been closed since its looting in 2003, and is finally scheduled to reopen to scholars and students on February 23, 2009. Over 15,000 items were reported stolen, and Iraq wants to promote public awareness for preserving the country's historical sites and cultural heritage. Keeping these artifacts is important for knowledge of the history of their country for us and the future generations of the world. (http://www.rferl.org/Content/Iraqs_Art_Museum_Reopening_Following_Looting/1491461.html)

Looting is not the only thing that destroys the cultural history of Iraq, but also military bases and neglect. During the Gulf and Iraq War, historical sites like this ziggurat have been damaged due to the Iraqi's basing their military right by the sites. The United States was told to try to avoid the archaeological sites, but not at all costs. This particular ziggurat, Ur, was damaged during a bombing in the Gulf War. The Iraqis stationed their military by sites to try to avoid enemy bombing. They put their military strategy ahead of the value of their history, so many valuable objects were damaged. (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080812-iraq-looting-missions_2.html)



Iraqi officials are now guarding and trying to preserve their history. They have 1,200 guards spread across different archeological and historical sites. The officials had evidence that most of the looting occurred in 2003, and looting holes were only found at five different sites. Most of the objects that were looted were small and easy to carry. Other countries have been very helpful in restoring the stolen items, because if they found any in their country they returned the artifacts to Iraq for preservation. (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2008-08-12-looting-iraq-antiquities_N.htm)

For more information... on the looting in the Iraq Museum: http://www.ajaonline.org/pdfs/109.3/AJA1093_bogdanos.pdf on how warfare fuels looting: http://www.archaeology.org/0307/etc/war.html